THE AFTN TEAM

MICHAEL MCCOLL

Managing Editor

Michael has lived and breathed football for as long as he can remember, and has written about the game since setting up AFTN as a critically acclaimed fanzine in Scotland in 1989. He is the Managing Editor of this site and host of The AFTN Soccer Show (AKA "There's Still Time") which can be heard on Sundays at 11pm on Vancouver's CiTR radio and is also available as a podcast.

Michael is the current colour commentator for Vancouver Whitecaps 2 in the USL, TSS Rovers in the PDL, and UBC Thunderbirds in U Sports. The current Vancouver Whitecaps beat reporter for MLSsoccer.com, and Western Conference reporter for USLsoccer.com, Michael has also written in the UK and Canada for When Saturday Comes, Goal.com, Four Four Two, The Independent and Metronews Vancouver amongst others. He has also been a contributor and guest on football shows on the BBC, Sky Sports, Radio Scotland, CBC, TSN Radio and many more.

He has been accredited media for club games in MLS, CONCACAF Champions League, USL, and PDL, along with the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers, 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, 2016 Copa America, and many international games. He is always available for freelance work.

An avid supporter of East Fife, AFC Wimbledon, and West Ham United, Michael has a love for old footballing memorabilia, especially programmes, cards, and comics. He's also a keen groundhopper. Check out his footballing travels via the link on the site!

Steve started watching football during Canada’s run to the 1986 World Cup and soon after started attending Vancouver 86ers matches at Swangard Stadium. After starting his own blog, Whitecaps Beat, Steve moved over to AFTN in 2011 and started contributing to Prost Amerika. He covers the Whitecaps from the Residency to MLS and is the co-host of the “There’s Still Time”, the AFTN Soccer Podcast.

Zach is a regular co-host for the AFTN Soccer Show, which can be heard on CiTR Radio at 11pm on Sundays and as a podcast thereafter.

A writer and occasional photographer for AFTN, Zach is also heavily involved in the movement Curva Collective, and can be regularly found behind a megaphone all over Cascadia, giving support to Vancouver Whitecaps and the Canadian national team.

A lifelong soccer fan, Zach has travelled the world for his passion, following Vancouver Whitecaps, Bayern Munich, and Canada. A highlight of his travels was attending the 2006 World Cup in Germany and he has also seen Bayern in UEFA Champions League action.

Tom has been a Whitecaps fan since the 1970's and an avid photographer since the 1980's. Michael "discovered" Tom at a Whitecaps U18 match in March of 2014 and immediately signed him up to join the AFTN team on the promise of food and drink. Since joining AFTN, Tom has proved to have an eye for capturing not only the football action but also the supporter experience at BC Place. The AFTN "Story in Pictures" has become a favourite amongst AFTN regulars. Tom is still awaiting that food and drink.

Chris Corrigan is a Southsider and has been standing full time in the supporter’s section since 2011. He previously wrote FanPosts on supporter culture at 86 Forever under the title "The View from 253." At age 10 he was goaded into supporting Spurs when he lived in Hertfordshire in the late 1970s, but since 2009 his love for the Whitecaps has dwarfed even that immutable childhood decision. His seats, high in 253 are among The Pigeon Casuals, an informal group of Southsiders devoted to welcoming and involving newcomers to supporter culture.

He is an incurable devotee of local participatory supporter culture and in addition to volunteering at his local club, Bowen Island FC, he has established diplomatic relations with supporters of Grimsby Town FC and especially the writers at Cod Almighty.

Joe became a Whitecaps fan after moving to Canada in 2010, and started The View From 202 website in January 2014 with his good friends Nicolaas and Dan, before joining the AFTN team for the start of the 2016 season.

Aside from supporting the 'Caps, The View From 202 unanimously support West Bromwich Albion (it's a long story), although Joe has not so secretly supported Manchester United since he was young due to his boyhood hero and compatriot, Roy Keane.

While it does not reflect in his Sunday-league performances, Joe enjoys the tactical side of the game, and tries to reflect it in his writing. Joe has a weakness for football podcasts and the concept of a False Nine.

Jay was only a casual observer of football until a move away from rural BC and to Vancouver coincided with a rise in the profile of the Whitecaps as they joined Major League Soccer in 2011. Since then, he's been a regular at MLS games, away trips, reserve matches, and Residency games.

Having previously written on SB Nation, Michael poached Jay to write for AFTN at the start of 2013, providing his opinion pieces on all things Whitecaps and MLS. He's also a regular contributor to AFTN's "There's Still Time" podcast.

Noah Feraco is a newer FC Edmonton fan, falling hard for the team in their last NASL season in 2017. He was involved in the YEG 4 CPL campaign and spoke at City Hall in favour of FC Edmonton. He was silently hoping that FC Edmonton would leave the NASL in 2017 and immediately join the CPL so the team would have closer rivals than San Francisco and Puerto Rico. He is excited for the CPL to get underway and with it the next chapter of Canadian Soccer and is joining AFTN to cover FC Edmonton.

Born and raised in deepest, darkest Northamptonshire, England, Gary moved to Nova Scotia in 2016 and has been following the development of the Canadian Premier League and HFX Wanderers FC ever since. He is a glass-half-empty Arsenal fan with a hopelessly felt devotion to Arsene Wenger that will probably never leave him, despite thousands spent on therapy.

His blog, From Aways, looks to capture the fledgling steps of HFX Wanderers FC as they negotiate the inaugural season of professional football in Canada. From spending Friday evenings watching second-tier Trinidadian football to taking the long route home from work to stare longingly at the green surface of the Wanderers Grounds, he is committed to discussing and analyzing all Wanderers-related happenings.

Come April’s opening day, you'll find him among friends in Block 105. Until then, he can be found on Twitter at @FromAwaysHFX.

PETER HICKEN

Writer

Born and raised in Vancouver, Peter has been an avid Whitecaps fan since his first game at Swangard in their USL days. He caught the football bug at very young age, being brought up in a house that very much adored football: his grandfather having played for boyhood club youth of the 1940s Wolverhampton Wanderers. In addition to his love for Canadian football and the ‘Caps, Peter trails the steps of his grandfather in his following of the English game and family club, Wolves.

Almost equally as much as he loves watching football, Peter indulges the tactics and the 'behind the scenes' roster building side of the sport. He hopes to bring forward some pieces on tactical breakdowns, soccernomics, prospective rosters, and future markets and his work for AFTN will consist of both league coverage and subjective opinion pieces on MLS, CPL, and the ‘Caps.

An avid soccer fan who grew up watching the Whitecaps at Swangard back in their USL days. Part of AFTN’s weekly preview podcast. Play by Play announcer of the TSS FC Rovers and UBC’s Men’s and Women’s soccer teams. Youngest and only person on AFTN that can not grow a beard. Lives in Surrey but loves making the trek to BC Place for Whitecaps matchdays! You can easily find him in the crowd at a Whitecaps game because he is predominantly the loudest person in his section.

Gregg was born in Ayr, Scotland and lived there until he was 14 years old. He grew up obsessed with football and followed his boyhood team, Aberdeen, as well as Manchester United, religiously.

Moving to the Vancouver area in 2010 left a football sized hole in his life, a hole that was gladly filled by the Whitecaps entrance into Major League Soccer the very next year. His first ‘Caps game was June 18th that year, where the team recorded a 1-0 win over Philadelphia Union at Empire Field, and since then, he hasn’t looked back. He lives for the Cascadia away days and makes sure to circle them on his calendar as soon as the schedule is released.
Gregg enjoys digging deeper than your average Saturday afternoon viewer and has taken a particular interest in the statistical side of the sport. He is beyond excited for his adopted home nation to finally get its own league in the CPL. Gregg is looking forward to putting pen to paper at AFTN and diving into the numbers in regard to the Canadian Premier League.

Doug now lives in small town Vancouver Island. He grew up in Vancouver and played soccer in the Dunbar and Kerrisdale areas. He first caught the bug of world football listening to Toby Charles announcing “Soccer Made in Germany” on PBS on Sunday afternoons. He continued to play through adulthood and now is retired from work and the pitch.

Doug followed the Whitecaps through the 70’s and early 80’s during the NASL years. He had season’s tickets for a short spell and was in the 100,000 strong crowd celebrating the Soccer Bowl championship of 1979 (if you look closely at the news video of Carl’s speech, that’s him up on the unfinished building in the background of the shot).

He is interested in all things 'Caps and how we, as fans, interact with and live and die with our team.

JAKE MCGRAIL

Writer

*** profile coming soon ***

ANNA NAMSHIRIN

Writer

Anna first fell for the Whitecaps in 2011 after a stunning 4-2 win over Chicago Fire which saw goals netted by Gershon Koffie, *redacted*, and Eric Hassli, twice!

Sunshine, cold brews, mountain views, and approval to yell at strangers ensured she would be in this for the long haul. She continues to support the team from deep in the Southside at BC Place.

With her penchant for puns and desire to look for the bright side of things, she will bring a lighter look at what's happening in Whitecapsland. When she isn't going cross-eyed trying to decipher MLS roster rules she's checking out local breweries, gardening or playing rec soccer, volleyball and flag football.

Jon was born in Oakville, Ontario and has been playing soccer since he was able to walk. Now residing in Toronto, Jon has been an avid TFC fanatic since the inaugural announcement of the club in 2006. While enduring just about every form of weather imaginable (and many more losses than wins), Jon hasn't missed many games at BMO Field over the last decade and was in attendance for the 2017 MLS Championship win. When it comes to European football Jon supports both Liverpool and Celtic in the UK.

Jon has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the CPL, ever since the first rumours started swirling on Reddit and Twitter years ago. Scouring the web for any little detail or hint, he is extremely excited to be joining AFTN to be the correspondent for the Ontario-based CPL squads York 9 and Forge FC (Hamilton).

Nicolaas has enjoyed the Whitecaps for a while now, even before collaborating with Joe and Dan on The View from 202. His enjoyment for the 'Caps dates from the start of Vancouver's entry into Major League Soccer in 2011.

Apart from supporting the Whitecaps, Nick enjoys playing rec league soccer (among other games). He also enjoys watching soccer, through the lens of Werder Bremen and Crystal Palace. He also loves reading about football and trying to implement zany tactics in Football Manager. Through some hours of Football Manager he has come to appreciate the positioning and physicality of an attacking wingback.

Scott is a Calgary-based sports writer who joined the AFTN team in early 2019. He’s written and worked for various newspapers and websites since 2013, when he first caught the journalism bug while writing for the University of Calgary’s campus newspaper.

Since those early days, Scott has spent an embarrassing amount of time behind a keyboard, covering local news and sports in the communities he’s lived in. He is currently the sports reporter for two weekly newspapers in the Calgary area, and previously worked for a year at a semi-weekly newspaper in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island.

He has always loved soccer and grew up playing the game competitively in Calgary. The highlight of his playing days was a Tier 1 Provincial championship with his U18 team in 2012. In his Grade 12 year, he was recruited by the University of Calgary Dinos varsity team, where he spent his first year of university as a redshirt, before “retiring” in 2013 to focus on journalism and other pursuits.

An avid soccer fan for most of his life, Scott most closely follows the Bundesliga, but he has always been interested in the development of the professional game in Canada. He has covered soccer at the U SPORTS level, and also reported on his local VISL Division 1 team when he was living on Vancouver Island.

His work for AFTN will include all things soccer-related in Calgary, including coverage of Cavalry FC’s inaugural campaign in the CPL and Foothills FC’s attempts to defend their PDL title in 2019.